NY State Senate Bill 2013-S7158

Senate Bill S7158

2013-2014 Legislative Session

Relates to notices to non-marital fathers in adoption, surrender and termination of parental rights proceedings and consents to adoption in family and surrogate's courts

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Children And Families Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
May 01, 2014	referred to children and families

2013-S7158 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Children And Families
Law Section:: Domestic Relations Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §§111 & 111-a, Dom Rel L; amd §384-c, Soc Serv L

2013-S7158 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to notices to non-marital fathers in adoption, surrender and termination of parental rights proceedings and consents to adoption in family and surrogate's courts.

2013-S7158 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                BILL NUMBER:S7158

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the domestic relations law and the
social services law, in relation to notices to non-marital fathers in
adoption, surrender and termination of parental rights proceedings and
consents to adoptions in family and surrogate's courts

This is one in a series of measures being introduced at the request of
the Chief Administrative Judge upon the recommendation of her Family
Court Advisory and Rules Committee.

In 1979, the United States Supreme Court, in Caban v. Mohammed, 441 US
388 (1979), held a statute unconstitutional that failed to afford a
birth father the right to consent to his child's adoption, where he
had lived with the mother; admitted paternity and had a substantial
relationship with, and provided support to, the child. Following
Caban, the Legislature enacted new criteria defining those putative or
non-marital fathers who are entitled to consent to adoptions ("consent
fathers") and those who are entitled simply to notice of termination
of parental rights, surrender and adoption proceedings ("notice-only
fathers"). Those entitled to notice only may be heard regarding the
children's best interests but do not have veto power over their
adoptions. L.1980, c. 575. Notwithstanding the Legislature's goals of
providing "reasonable, unambiguous and objective" criteria for notice
and consent, experience with the 1980 statute has demonstrated that it
fulfills none of those intentions.  Therefore, we submit this measure

to expand and objectify both the criteria for non-marital fathers to
consent to adoptions and the criteria for those entitled to notice of,
but not veto power over, adoptions.

1. Consent fathers (Domestic Relations Law § 111):

This measure establishes a new, objective benchmark for determining
the applicable criteria for assessing whether a putative father should
be accorded the status of a "consent father." Current law establishes
different criteria for determining whether a non-marital father is a
"consent father," depending upon whether a child was less than or more
than six months old when he or she was "placed with the adoptive
parents." See Domestic Relations Law §§ 111(1)(d), 111(1)(e). This
measure would substitute the "time of the filing of a petition to
terminate parental rights, application to execute a judicial
surrender, petition for approval of an extra-judicial surrender or
extra-judicial consent to adoption or petition for adoption, whichever
is earliest" for the phrases "placed with the adoptive parents" and
"placed for adoption."*

The phrase "placed with the adoptive parents" has generated decades of
confusion over whether it denotes the original placement with the
particular adoptive family at a point where their status was not yet
"adoptive" or the later point at which the adoptive parents signed an
adoptive placement agreement or, alternatively, the hard-to-pinpoint
moment at which foster parents were identified by the child care
agency as the adoptive resources for the child. Interpretation of the
phrase to connote the point at which the adoptive parents signed an
adoptive placement agreement has been problematic since it, in effect,


has rendered the six-month distinction inapplicable to the vast
majority of foster children, virtually all of whom are over six months
old at the point where the agreement has been signed. As the Appellate
Division, First Department, recognized in dicta in Matter of Tasha M.,
33 A.D.3d 387 (1st Dept, 2006), such an interpretation is not
meaningful since the determination whether a person is a "consent
father" is a "threshold issue" that must generally be determined well
in advance of the signing of an adoptive placement agreement. In fact,
statutes and regulations preclude the signing of the adoptive
placement agreement until the child has already been freed for
adoption, but the Court is required to make a determination regarding
"consent fathers" as a part of a termination of parental rights
proceeding.** This measure would instead articulate a far more
readily-identifiable point in time for determining whether to apply
the over-six-months or under-six-months criteria.

Using the new benchmark for those children who were over six months
old, this measure recognizes additional categories of non-marital
fathers who should be accorded the right to consent to adoptions of
their children.*** Those criteria would include, inter alia, those
named on a child's birth certificate or acknowledgment of paternity,
those adjudicated as fathers in New York or another state or
territory, those whose acknowledgment of paternity or order of
filiation in another country is determined to be entitled to comity,
those who maintained substantial and continuous or repeated contact
with the child through visits at least twice per month or through
regular communication, and those who lived with the child for six
months immediately prior to the earlier point of the child's placement
in foster care or placement for adoption.

Affording non-marital fathers named on the child's birth certificate
or acknowledgment of paternity, or adjudicated as fathers in New York
or another state or territory, the right to consent to the adoption of
their children reflects the increasing recognition and utilization of
these means of establishing fatherhood. The Federal Personal
Responsibility and Work Opportunities Recognition Act (Public Law
104-193) required states, as a condition of receiving Federal child
support funding under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, to
implement simple means of legally establishing paternity through
voluntary acknowledgments, including hospital-based programs to
encourage their use, and to accord full faith and credit to
acknowledgments from other states - requirements that have sharply
increased the use and recognition of acknowledgments nationally.
Further, the Act required genetic testing to be admissible in
paternity proceedings and to be presumptive proof of paternity,
changes that have increased paternity adjudications and have reduced
contested cases. See 42 U.S.C.A. § 666(a)(5).**** Taken together,
these changes, accompanied by parallel increases in societal
perceptions of the status of fathers of out-of-wedlock children,
militate in favor of recognizing fathers whose paternity has been
established through these means as "consent fathers."

Additionally, this measure retains but, again, clarifies the
alternative behavioral criteria for establishing the status of a
"consent father." Apart from legally establishing paternity,
non-marital fathers may demonstrate their entitlement to be "consent
fathers" through maintaining "substantial and continuous or repeated


contact with the child." This may be demonstrated by payment of child
support, visiting the child, regularly communicating with the child or
living with the child for a six-month period. The measure would modify
the visiting criterion to require visits twice per month, the standard
for foster care visiting contained in the regulations of the State
Office of Children and Family Services. See 18 N.Y.C.RR.
430.12(c)(4)(ii)(d)(1)(i). Further, with respect to the
living-together criterion, it would substitute a six-month period
"immediately preceding the earlier of the placement of the child for
adoption or placement of the child in foster care" for the existing
requirement of "six months within the one year period immediately
preceding the placement of the child for adoption."*****

Elevation of legally adjudicated and acknowledged fathers to "consent
fathers" from their current status as "notice only" fathers is
consistent with the mandates in the recently-enacted permanency
legislation for early identification of suitable non-respondent
parents, as well as relatives (both paternal and maternal), with whom
children who are the subjects of child protective proceedings might
reside. See Family Court Act § 1017 (L. 2005, c. 3). Non-respondent
parents must be given notice of the pendency of child protective
proceedings and permanency hearings, information regarding where their
children have been placed and how they can enforce their rights to
visitation, and a warning that they are subject to possible
termination of parental rights if they don't involve themselves in
planning for their children on a timely basis. See Family Court Act
1035, 1089(b)(1)(i): Child protective and child care agencies'
continuing obligations to identify and plan with the fathers of
children in their care and to document those efforts are clear from
the inception of children's placement in foster care - part of a
salutary national trend to spur early identification and involvement
of fathers.****** Fathers who come forward promptly, cooperate in
permanency planning efforts, maintain regular contact with their
children and fulfill their roles as fathers clearly merit the
entitlement afforded by this measure to consent to the adoption of
their children.

2. Notice-only fathers (Domestic Relations Law § 111-a; Social
Services Law § 384-c):

In addition to augmenting alternatives for establishing status as a
"consent father," this measure would add two categories of individuals
to be entitled to notice of termination of parental rights, surrender
and adoption proceedings and the opportunity in those proceedings to
be heard regarding their children's best interests. The measure would
retain as "notice-only" fathers those named by mothers in written
sworn statements and those who have merely filed an intent to claim
paternity with the putative father registry. Both of those are
unilateral actions, do not carry a support obligation, and are
revocable at will, thus warranting retention of the more limited
"notice-only" status.*******

The first new category of "notice-only fathers" would include
individuals who have filed custody or paternity petitions, served them
upon the mother or agency and thereafter appeared in court on the
petitions during their children's most recent stays in foster care,


that is, petitions that are still pending at the time of the adoption
or termination of parental rights proceeding. This category reflects
concern for the right to be heard of a non-marital father, whose
attempts to assert his status as father may have been frustrated by
the mother's unavailability or the child care agency's
unresponsiveness, but who nonetheless has taken some concrete action.
The second new category would be comprised of individuals identified
in an acknowledgment or order of paternity in another country that has
been determined by the Court not to be entitled to comity in New York
but for whom the Court has determined that notice should be given.

Advances in establishment of paternity and enhanced expectations
concerning the role of non-marital fathers in their children's lives
warrant a realignment both of the requirements for consent to adoption
by fathers of children born out of wedlock and for notice to fathers
of termination, surrender and adoption proceedings. This measure
provides that necessary realignment and in so doing will enhance the
effectiveness of the permanency planning process for children before
the Court.

This measure, which would have no fiscal impact upon the State, would
take effect immediately.

2009 Legislative History:

OCA 2009-32 Senate 3875 (Sen. Montgomery) (Passed)

* Inclusion of the filing of the adoption petition as one of the
criteria addresses situations, more common in private adoptions, in
which a child is freed for adoption within the adoption proceeding,
with no prior actions filed.

** See Social Services Law §§ 384-b(12); 18 N.Y.C.R.R. §§ 421.1(d),
421.18(3)(1).

*** This measure does not address the "consent father" criteria
applicable to children under six months old, the subject of one of our
proposals in prior years. See D.R.L. § 111(1)(e). Since the Court of
Appeals, in Matter of Racquel Marie X, 76 N.Y.2d 387(1990), cert.
denied, 498 U.S. 984 (1991), ruled unconstitutional the criterion
requiring the putative father to have lived with the mother for six
months prior to the child's birth, criteria articulated in that
decision, rather than the statutory criteria, have been applied to
putative fathers of those children.

**** Voluntary paternity acknowledgment procedures and full faith and
credit requirements in New York are delineated in Public Health Law
4135-b, Social Services Law § 111-k and Family Court Act § 516-a.

***** Read literally, the existing six-month criterion could only
apply to the father of a foster child if the child were surrendered
for adoption virtually immediately upon placement in foster care. The
minimum thresholds of time in foster care for involuntary termination
of parental rights are six months for abandonment and one year for all
other grounds, except severe or repeated child abuse.


****** See NYS Office of Children and Family Services, Locating Absent
Fathers and Extended Family Guidance Paper (Informational Letter
05-0CFS-INF-05, Sept, 2005); What About the Dads? Child Welfare
Agencies' Efforts to Identify, Locate and Involve Nonresident Fathers
(US HHS ACYF Children's Bureau, 2006).

*******They thus stand in sharp contrast to paternity
acknowledgements, pursuant to Public Health Law § 4135-b, which must
be signed by both parents and have strict Federal time-limits and
criteria that must be met before they can be revoked. See 42 U.S.CA
666(a)(5)(D) (ii). See also Family Court Act § 516-a(b); Social
Services Law § 111-k.

2013-S7158 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  7158

                            I N  S E N A T E

                               May 1, 2014
                               ___________

Introduced by Sen. FELDER -- (at request of the Office of Court Adminis-
  tration)  --  read  twice  and ordered printed, and when printed to be
  committed to the Committee on Children and Families

AN ACT to amend the domestic relations law and the social services  law,
  in  relation  to notices to non-marital fathers in adoption, surrender
  and  termination  of  parental  rights  proceedings  and  consents  to
  adoptions in family and surrogate's courts

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. Paragraphs (d) and (e) of subdivision 1 of section  111  of
the domestic relations law, as added by chapter 575 of the laws of 1980,
are amended to read as follows:
  (d)  Of  the  father, whether adult or infant, of a child born out-of-
wedlock and [placed with the adoptive  parents]  more  than  six  months
[after  birth]  OLD AT THE TIME OF THE FILING OF A PETITION TO TERMINATE
PARENTAL RIGHTS, APPLICATION TO EXECUTE A JUDICIAL  SURRENDER,  PETITION
FOR APPROVAL OF AN EXTRA-JUDICIAL SURRENDER OR EXTRA-JUDICIAL CONSENT TO
ADOPTION  OR  PETITION  FOR ADOPTION, WHICHEVER IS EARLIEST, but only if
such father shall have:
  (I) BEEN NAMED AS THE FATHER ON THE CHILD'S BIRTH CERTIFICATE; OR
  (II) BEEN ADJUDICATED AS THE FATHER BY A COURT IN  THE  STATE  OF  NEW
YORK; OR
  (III) BEEN ADJUDICATED BY A COURT OF ANOTHER STATE OR TERRITORY OF THE
UNITED  STATES  TO  BE THE FATHER OF THE CHILD, WHEN A CERTIFIED COPY OF
THE COURT ORDER HAS BEEN FILED WITH THE PUTATIVE FATHER REGISTRY, PURSU-
ANT TO SECTION THREE HUNDRED SEVENTY-TWO-C OF THE SOCIAL  SERVICES  LAW;
OR
  (IV)  ACKNOWLEDGED  PATERNITY  IN  A  FORM  DULY  EXECUTED PURSUANT TO
SECTION FOUR THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-FIVE-B OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH LAW
OR IN A FORM RECOGNIZED BY THE STATE OR TERRITORY OF THE  UNITED  STATES
IN  WHICH  IT  WAS  EXECUTED TO HAVE THE FORCE AND EFFECT OF AN ORDER OF
PATERNITY OR FILIATION; OR

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD13833-01-4

S. 7158                             2

  (V) BEEN IDENTIFIED AS THE FATHER IN AN ORDER OF PATERNITY  OR  FILIA-
TION  OR AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF PATERNITY IN ANOTHER COUNTRY THAT HAS BEEN
DETERMINED BY THE COURT TO BE ENTITLED TO COMITY IN THIS STATE; OR
  (VI)  maintained  substantial  and continuous or repeated contact with
the child as manifested by[: (i)] the payment by the father  toward  the
support  of  the  child  of  a fair and reasonable sum, according to the
father's means, and either [(ii)]:
  (A) the father's visiting the child at least [monthly] TWICE PER MONTH
when physically and financially able to do so  and  not  prevented  from
doing so by the person or authorized agency having lawful custody of the
child, or [(iii)]
  (B)  the  father's  regular  communication  with the child or with the
person or agency having the care or custody of  the  child,  when  phys-
ically and financially unable to visit the child or prevented from doing
so  by  the  person  or  authorized  agency having lawful custody of the
child. [The] FOR PURPOSES OF THIS SUBPARAGRAPH, THE subjective intent of
the father, whether expressed or otherwise, unsupported by  evidence  of
acts  specified  in  this  paragraph  manifesting such intent, shall not
preclude a determination that the father failed to maintain  substantial
and  continuous  or  repeated  contact  with the child. In making such a
determination, the court shall not require a showing of diligent efforts
by any person or agency to encourage the  father  to  perform  the  acts
specified in this paragraph.
  (VII)  A  father, whether adult or infant, of a child born out-of-wed-
lock, who openly lived with the child for a period of six months [within
the one year period] immediately preceding the EARLIER OF THE  placement
of  the  child for adoption OR PLACEMENT OF THE CHILD IN FOSTER CARE and
who during such period openly held himself out to be the father of  such
child  shall  be  deemed  to  have maintained substantial and continuous
contact with the child for the purpose of this [subdivision] PARAGRAPH.
  (e) Of the father, whether adult or infant, of a  child  born  out-of-
wedlock who is under the age of six months [at the time he is placed for
adoption]  OLD  AT  THE  TIME  OF  THE FILING OF A PETITION TO TERMINATE
PARENTAL RIGHTS, APPLICATION TO EXECUTE A JUDICIAL  SURRENDER,  PETITION
FOR APPROVAL OF AN EXTRA-JUDICIAL SURRENDER OR EXTRA-JUDICIAL CONSENT TO
ADOPTION  OR  PETITION FOR ADOPTION, WHICHEVER IS EARLIEST, but only if:
(i) such father openly lived with the child or the child's mother for  a
continuous  period  of six months immediately preceding the placement of
the child for adoption; and (ii) such father openly held himself out  to
be  the  father  of such child during such period; and (iii) such father
paid a fair and reasonable sum, in accordance with his  means,  for  the
medical,  hospital  and nursing expenses incurred in connection with the
mother's pregnancy or with the birth of the child.
  S 2. Subdivisions 1 and 2 of section 111-a of the  domestic  relations
law, subdivision 1 as amended by chapter 371 of the laws of 2013, subdi-
vision  2  as added by chapter 665 of the laws of 1976, paragraph (e) of
subdivision 2 as amended by chapter 862 of the laws of 1977,  and  para-
graphs  (f)  and  (g)  of  subdivision 2 as amended and paragraph (h) of
subdivision 2 as added by chapter 575 of the laws of 1980,  are  amended
to read as follows:
  1.  Notwithstanding  any  inconsistent provisions of this or any other
law, and in addition to the notice requirements of any law pertaining to
persons other than those specified in subdivision two of  this  section,
notice  as  provided  herein  shall be given to the persons specified in
subdivision two of this section of  any  adoption  proceeding  initiated
pursuant  to  this  article  or  of any proceeding initiated pursuant to

S. 7158                             3

section one hundred fifteen-b of this article relating to the revocation
of an adoption consent, when such proceeding involves a child born  out-
of-wedlock  provided, however, that such notice shall not be required to
be  given  to  any  person  who  previously has been given notice of any
[proceeding] PETITION  TO  TERMINATE  PARENTAL  RIGHTS,  APPLICATION  TO
EXECUTE A JUDICIAL SURRENDER, PETITION FOR APPROVAL OF AN EXTRA-JUDICIAL
SURRENDER  OR  EXTRA-JUDICIAL  CONSENT TO ADOPTION involving the child[,
pursuant to section three hundred eighty-four-c of the  social  services
law,]  and  provided  further  that  notice in an adoption proceeding[,]
pursuant to this section shall not be required to be given to any person
who has previously received notice of any proceeding pursuant to section
one hundred fifteen-b  of  this  article.  In  addition  to  such  other
requirements  as  may be applicable to the petition in any proceeding in
which notice must be given pursuant to this section, the petition  shall
set  forth the names and last known addresses of all persons required to
be given notice of the proceeding, pursuant to this section,  and  there
shall  be shown by the petition or by affidavit or other proof satisfac-
tory to the court that there are no persons other than those  set  forth
in the petition who are entitled to notice. For the purpose of determin-
ing  persons entitled to notice of adoption proceedings initiated pursu-
ant to this article,  persons  specified  in  subdivision  two  of  this
section  shall  not  include any person who has been convicted of one or
more of the following sexual offenses in this state or convicted of  one
or  more  offenses  in  another jurisdiction which, if committed in this
state, would constitute one or more of the following offenses, when  the
child  who  is  the subject of the proceeding was conceived as a result:
(A) rape in first or second degree; (B) course of sexual conduct against
a child in the first degree; (C) predatory sexual assault; or (D) preda-
tory sexual assault against a child.
  2. Persons entitled to notice, pursuant to  subdivision  one  of  this
section, shall include:
  (a)  [any person adjudicated by a court in this state to be the father
of the child;
  (b) any person adjudicated by a court of another state or territory of
the United States to be the father of the child, when a  certified  copy
of  the  court  order  has been filed with the putative father registry,
pursuant to section three hundred seventy-two-c of the  social  services
law;
  (c)]  any person who has timely filed an unrevoked notice of intent to
claim paternity of the child, pursuant to section three  hundred  seven-
ty-two-c of the social services law;
  [(d)  any  person  who is recorded on the child's birth certificate as
the child's father;
  (e)] (B) any person who is  openly  living  with  the  child  and  the
child's  mother at the time the proceeding is initiated and who is hold-
ing himself out to be the child's father;
  [(f)] (C) any person who has been identified as the child's father  by
the mother in A written, sworn statement;
  [(g)]  (D) any person who was married to the child's mother within six
months subsequent to the birth of the child and prior to  the  execution
of  a surrender instrument or the initiation of a proceeding pursuant to
section three hundred eighty-four-b of the social services law; [and
  (h) any person who has filed with  the  putative  father  registry  an
instrument  acknowledging  paternity  of  the child, pursuant to section
4-1.2 of the estates, powers and trusts law] (E) ANY PERSON WHO,  SUBSE-
QUENT  TO  THE  CHILD'S  MOST RECENT ENTRY INTO FOSTER CARE, HAS FILED A

S. 7158                             4

PATERNITY OR CUSTODY PETITION THAT REMAINS PENDING, WHERE SUCH  PETITION
WAS SERVED UPON THE MOTHER OR UPON THE AGENCY HAVING CARE AND CUSTODY OF
THE  CHILD,  WHERE  SUCH  PERSON  STATED  IN THE PETITION THAT HE IS THE
CHILD'S  FATHER  AND  WHERE HE APPEARED IN COURT ON THAT PETITION ON THE
DATE FOR RETURN OF PROCESS; AND
  (F) ANY PERSON IDENTIFIED AS THE FATHER IN AN ORDER  OF  PATERNITY  OR
FILIATION  OR AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF PATERNITY IN ANOTHER COUNTRY THAT HAS
BEEN DETERMINED BY THE COURT NOT TO BE ENTITLED TO COMITY IN THIS STATE,
BUT FOR WHOM THE COURT DETERMINES THAT SUCH PERSON  SHOULD  BE  PROVIDED
WITH NOTICE PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION.
  S 3. Subdivisions 1 and 2 of section 384-c of the social services law,
subdivision 1 as amended by chapter 371 of the laws of 2013, subdivision
2 as added by chapter 665 of the laws of 1976, paragraph (e) of subdivi-
sion 2 as amended by chapter 862 of the laws of 1977, and paragraphs (f)
and  (g)  of subdivision 2 as amended and paragraph (h) of subdivision 2
as added by chapter 575 of the laws of 1980,  are  amended  to  read  as
follows:
  1.  Notwithstanding  any  inconsistent  provision of this or any other
law, and in addition to the notice requirements of any law pertaining to
persons other than those specified in subdivision two of  this  section,
notice  as  provided  herein  shall be given to the persons specified in
subdivision two of this section of any [proceeding initiated pursuant to
sections three hundred fifty-eight-a,  three  hundred  eighty-four,  and
three  hundred  eighty-four-b  of  this  chapter,] PETITION TO TERMINATE
PARENTAL RIGHTS, APPLICATION TO EXECUTE A JUDICIAL  SURRENDER,  PETITION
FOR APPROVAL OF AN EXTRA-JUDICIAL SURRENDER OR EXTRA-JUDICIAL CONSENT TO
ADOPTION  involving  [a] THE child IF THE CHILD WAS born out-of-wedlock.
Persons specified in subdivision two of this section shall  not  include
any person who has been convicted of one or more of the following sexual
offenses  in  this state or convicted of one or more offenses in another
jurisdiction which, if committed in this state, would constitute one  or
more of the following offenses, when the child who is the subject of the
proceeding  was  conceived  as  a  result:   (A) rape in first or second
degree; (B) course of sexual  conduct  against  a  child  in  the  first
degree;  (C)  predatory  sexual assault; or (D) predatory sexual assault
against a child.
  2. Persons entitled to notice, pursuant to  subdivision  one  of  this
section, shall include:
  (a)  [any person adjudicated by a court in this state to be the father
of the child;
  (b) any person adjudicated by a court of another state or territory of
the United States to be the father of the child, when a  certified  copy
of  the  court  order  has been filed with the putative father registry,
pursuant to section three hundred seventy-two-c of this chapter;
  (c)] any person who has timely filed an unrevoked notice of intent  to
claim  paternity  of the child, pursuant to section three hundred seven-
ty-two-c of this [chapter] TITLE;
  [(d) any person who is recorded on the child's  birth  certificate  as
the child's father;
  (e)]  (B)  any  person  who  is  openly  living with the child and the
child's mother at the time the proceeding is initiated or  at  the  time
the  child  was  placed  in the care of an authorized agency, and who is
holding himself out to be the child's father;
  [(f)] (C) any person who has been identified as the child's father  by
the mother in A written, sworn statement;

S. 7158                             5

  [(g)]  (D) any person who was married to the child's mother within six
months subsequent to the birth of the child and prior to  the  execution
of  a surrender instrument or the initiation of a proceeding pursuant to
section three hundred eighty-four-b OF THIS TITLE; [and
  (h)  any  person  who  has  filed with the putative father registry an
instrument acknowledging paternity of the  child,  pursuant  to  section
4-1.2  of the estates, powers and trusts law] (E) ANY PERSON WHO, SUBSE-
QUENT TO THE CHILD'S MOST RECENT ENTRY INTO FOSTER  CARE,  HAS  FILED  A
PATERNITY  OR CUSTODY PETITION THAT REMAINS PENDING, WHERE SUCH PETITION
WAS SERVED UPON THE MOTHER OR UPON THE AGENCY HAVING CARE AND CUSTODY OF
THE CHILD, WHERE SUCH PERSON STATED IN  THE  PETITION  THAT  HE  IS  THE
CHILD'S  FATHER  AND  WHERE HE APPEARED IN COURT ON THAT PETITION ON THE
DATE FOR RETURN OF PROCESS; AND
  (F) ANY PERSON IDENTIFIED AS THE FATHER IN AN ORDER  OF  PATERNITY  OR
FILIATION  OR AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF PATERNITY IN ANOTHER COUNTRY THAT HAS
BEEN DETERMINED BY THE COURT NOT TO BE ENTITLED TO COMITY IN THIS STATE,
BUT FOR WHOM THE COURT DETERMINES THAT SUCH PERSON  SHOULD  BE  PROVIDED
WITH  NOTICE  PURSUANT  TO  SECTION ONE HUNDRED ELEVEN-A OF THE DOMESTIC
RELATIONS LAW.
  S 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day  after  it  shall
have become a law and shall apply to petitions for adoption, termination
of  parental rights, approvals of extra-judicial surrenders or extra-ju-
dicial consents to adoption or applications to execute judicial  surren-
ders filed on or after such effective date; provided, however, that this
act  shall  not apply to cases in which judicial determinations had been
made prior to such effective date regarding putative fathers entitled to
consent to adopt or to  notice  of  adoption,  termination  of  parental
rights,   approvals   of  extra-judicial  surrenders  or  extra-judicial
consents to adoption or applications to execute judicial surrenders.

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